About Writing

Alex Marcoux
Keeper of the Royal Secret

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACTS

Cindy L. Abel                                                                           Philip Rafshoon, Outwrite Bookstore

404.247.6716                                                                          404.607.0082

cabel@bizvox.cc                                                                    philip@outwritebooks.com

Alex Marcoux Goes Where Dan Brown Didn’t Dare –

and Reads About It at Outwrite Bookstore

Atlanta Filmmakers Select Marcoux’s Second Novel as Subject of Short Film

ATLANTA (02 May, 2007) - - Award-winning suspense novelist Alex Marcoux will read and sign A Matter of Degrees at Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse on Friday, 08 June, at 7:30PM. Marcoux’s three books - Facades, Back to Salem, and Matter of Degrees - have each won or been award finalists and she is currently writing her fourth, building on the characters and relationships in Back to Salem and A Matter of Degrees.

A Matter of Degrees, written before The DaVinci Code, goes where Dan Brown didn’t dare: deep inside the “secret within the secret” connecting Egyptian pharaohs, the Freemasons, the Knights Templar, and Mary Magdalene with the Sumerians, the Catholic Church, the devil, and even God. Protagonist Jessie Mercer is drawn into a web of conspiracy, murder and intrigue as she cross-dresses in order to pass as a man and be initiated into the secret society’s highest degree. She risks her life and the love of her partner as bits of a previous life in a far-distant past slowly reveal her story actually began in ancient Egypt and has woven its thread throughout the tapestry of human history.

Marcoux is collaborating with Atlanta filmmakers Cindy L. Abel and Sherry Richardson on a short film currently in development. The project is based on passages from Back to Salem in which modern-day protagonists Jessie, Taylor and Mark revisit events from the Salem witch trials in 1692 and realize they’re entwined – karmically and romantically.

Marcoux has been recognized for her ability to captivate and catch readers off-guard with twists and turns that weave past lives and contemporary developments to keep the endings unpredictable. Marcoux will be in Atlanta during the Golden Crown Literary Society Conference and Awards at which A Matter of Degrees is a finalist for a Best Speculative Fiction Award 2007.

Alex Marcoux lives in Denver, Colorado. In addition to writing, she conducts a variety of workshops, including Channeling that Story Screaming to be Heard (Intuitive Applications to Enhance your Creativity) and The Psychic Detective in which Marcoux, a former member of the Intuitive Task Force, a group of professional psychics assisting law enforcement agencies, helps writers understand how an intuitive person perceives information so they can more realistically convey their psychic characters.

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Outwrite Bookstore & Coffeehouse is an award-winning independent bookstore dubbed numerous times the “Best Bookstore in Atlanta” as well as "the BEST gay bookstore in the WORLD!" (The London Gay Times). Outwrite is located at 10^th Street and Piedmont Avenue, in Midtown. For more information, visit www.outwritebooks.com.
Back to Salem a Lambda Literary Finalist

Alex attended the 14th Annual Lambda Literary Awards as Back to Salem was a finalist in Best Mystery. She attended the ceremony with her brother, Joseph Marcoux.

Spotlight on Alex Marcoux by Christine Carey (Rocky Mountain Writer)

The following article was published in the October 2001 Rocky Mountain Writer, a newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers is dedicated to providing support, encouragement and education to writers of novel-length fiction.

    With the harsh reality of the disasters in the East, we can definitely see how anything, and I mean anything, is possible. Even people who do not believe that one person can have any influence on the course of the events around them, are now witnessing the power of one. Unfortunately, we have experienced a staggering amount of negative power. It is now up to us to produce the positive. Just as anything is possible in the political world, anything is possible in your world too, including selling that first book, finding an agent to represent you, or whatever it is that has to get done for you to take the next step on your journey.

    In so many ways, the universe will reap for you what you sow. The world’s response to you depends on how you respond to it, which explains entirely how Alex Marcoux, formerly a scientist, found a publisher and got her first novel sold with little effort. She never once allowed the possibility of not being published to enter her mind. She believes that if you doubt you’ll be published, then the doubt has already won, and you are making it much harder on yourself than it needs to be. Her “blissfully naïve” approach to the
publishing world made her journey a good one, since she did not embrace the negative or allow it to alter her course.

    The genesis of her first novel was related to her spiritual journey. In 1991, Alex moved to Colorado, just in time to watch a coalition group lobby to get Amendment 2 through the 1992 election. (Amendment 2 was an anti-gay and lesbian initiative that would legalize discrimination based upon sexual orientation.)

    While she watched the fight to take away gay and lesbian civil rights, she was experiencing other stressful situations, which put her into a soul-searching mode. “During this period, it became critically important for me to understand my soul’s purpose and after years of searching, I concluded that my life’s mission was to help people understand and respect individual differences.”

    Alex decided that the best way she could share her message was to write a novel. She did not decide to become a novelist and then ask herself what she should write. She felt a powerful, motivating force in her mission and her message, and because of that, her novel would be rich with power. To complete the book, she had to get up two hours before her son Preston, now seven, got up. Preston was a toddler when Alex started to write FACADES. Even though managing both a toddler and a full time job was tough, she knew she had to work extra hard. “It was confusing that the universe gave me the idea, but not the time.” She scheduled herself to write between five and seven AM and again in the evening, and then stuck to that schedule until she finished the book.

    Alex then wrote to a very successful writer who had started an imprint of her own, asking for feedback and advice. The writer told her about a technical publisher that was going to be starting a fiction line. Alex sent her manuscript to The Haworth Press-Alice Street Editions and five days later she heard from the publisher. Alex used a lawyer that she’d met at an RMFW conference two years back to negotiate the contract. While she appreciated the legal advice, she wound up negotiating the final deal on her own. The novel was published in September 2000 and Alex received a PEN Award from RMFW for her effort.

    Alex immediately began working on her follow-up book, BACK TO SALEM (September 2001), which she says was “a joy” to write. BACK TO SALEM is the first in a mystery series featuring Jessie Mercer, a novelist who learns she is precognitive when strange echoes of her novel start occurring in her own life.

    Alex admits that her books suffer from genre confusion since they include elements of mystery, romance, paranormal, new age, and same-sex romance. Her reviews, however, are uniformly stellar.

    After two books and a third on the way, Alex has found a rhythm in her writing. But even today, Alex doesn't refer to herself as being a writer, instead she “pretends to be a writer.” In the meantime, she will be encouraging us to send light instead of darkness, to respect each other’s differences, and to enjoy peaceful, loving journeys.

More details are available on Alex’s website at www.alexmarcoux.com. Peace.
by Christine Carey

The Heart and Soul to Becoming Published

By Alex Marcoux

The following article was published in the December 2000 Rocky Mountain Writer, a newsletter of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers is dedicated to providing support, encouragement and education to writers of novel-length fiction.

    In the mid-90’s, while on a quest to understand my soul’s purpose, I learned that I could fulfill part of my mission-in-life by writing. This surprised me because the thought of writing a letter horrified me, and while I was in high school and college the only subjects I did not excel at were English and Writing. I also didn’t believe I was creative enough to develop a story worthy of publication. After years of denying my fate, the universe kindly suggested (as kind as it gets) that I try… and since that time I haven’t stopped writing. In a very short period, I was able to write my first novel (Façades), attract a mid-size publisher, and now my second novel (Back to Salem) is being released next summer.

    I’m often asked, how did I find the secret handshake so quickly and become published? It’s not a handshake– it’s the heart and soul.

    Before I wrote Façades, I had heard that becoming published was very difficult. I never realized just how difficult until I had finished Façades and I attended my first writer’s conference. It was then I knew that I needed to abandon the facts. I refused to believe that I would become a statistic. I knew that Façades was somehow part of my soul’s purpose and believed it would be published, and soon. Three weeks later, I received a lead. The Haworth Press, which was traditionally a scholarly press, would introduce fiction under a new imprint, Alice Street Editions. Using my best detective skills, I learned who the new acquisitions editor would be, and her address. My manuscript arrived before any other manuscripts…five days after I mailed the manuscript to NYC, I heard from the editor.

    Yes, my story is about being incredibly lucky. But it’s also about believing.    Knowing that Façades was part of my soul’s purpose helped me not buy into the difficulties of becoming published. Many of us fall into the trap and accept the premise that becoming published is a next-to-impossible feat. When we do this, it becomes our reality. Is that the power of suggestion? Perhaps. Manifestation? Possibly. Instead of accepting the difficulties of becoming published, ask yourself this–do you have the desire to become published? Can you see it? If yes, then you must believe it.

    But why do you write? Is it money? Fame? Fortune? Probably not. I don’t believe even the most successful authors write because of money. Do you write because it’s an unexplainable drive? A passion? A sense of purpose? I think most write because they are called to write. It’s somehow part of our soul’s purpose. Whether we know this purpose or not, that’s not important. What is important is that we believe in ourselves, and our work. I don’t believe any of us are meant to fail.

    Of course believing in ourselves is not enough. We do need to go through the process of getting the words on paper and into a commercially acceptable form, and somehow attract a publisher. How we accomplish this is the heart to becoming published.

    We need to develop habits of discipline. Before I started to write, I had nurtured Façades in my head for three years. I knew the story was good, but I had an overwhelming fear of failure. At the time, I believed that if I were meant to write this story, the universe would bless me with an incredible allotment of free time. As it was, I was in a committed relationship; I had a toddler; and an ongoing business with my partner. Free time was truly a scarcity. Yet, I couldn’t shake my story. Then I made a commitment. Every morning I got up two-hours earlier and wrote, and at night after my son was in bed, again, I wrote. I would never have finished Façades if I didn’t adopt this routine, and to this day I still use this schedule.

    Exhaust your resources and your leads when writing and seeking a publisher. I hate clichés, but go the extra mile and take pride in your work. I wouldn’t focus on writing within the trends of market, because by the time your project is completed, what was hot won’t be. Write about what turns you on, what you are drawn to, and what is drawn to you. Don’t just write about things that you’re familiar with; do research, it’s fun. In my second novel (Back to Salem), I had the mystery climax during a five-day rafting trip through the upper Grand Canyon. Guess what I did for vacation last year?

    Somewhere along the line, I realized that the universe was at the heart of my stories. The universe not only helped develop and write my stories but also guided me to my publisher. Don’t only pursue logic, follow your gut and your intuition, and listen to what the universe is telling you. After my publisher approached me I checked them out, as I had some concerns since this would be the publisher’s first shot at fiction. While at a conference and pondering this, three people named Alice were introduced to me within an hour. I interpreted this, as the universe’s way of saying Alice Street Editions would do a good job publishing my book.

    Since I’ve started to write, I’ve experienced more happiness than ever before. Things just seem to be coming together. It’s very confirming that this is what I’m supposed to be doing. When things are clicking for you, ask yourself–what are you doing right? When things aren’t clicking, be open to change.

    For everyone that is seeking to be published–use your heart and soul. Do the best you possibly can. Have the desire to become published, see it and believe it.

The Publishing News

by Greg Herren, Lambda Book Report, December 2000

Alice Street Editions Author Wins Award

Alex Marcoux, author of Facades, was recently named the winner of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers 2000 PEN Award. Façades was Marcoux's debut novel, and it was published by Alice Street Editions, which is the Haworth Press imprint for lesbian fiction and non-fiction. We are delighted of course to have Alex recognized, said Judith P. Stelboum, the senior editor at Alice Street. She is an enormously talented writer with a bright future, and we are very happy that she is part of Alice Street. Stelboum went on to say that Alice Street is always looking for fresh new talents like Alex Marcoux. Submissions can be sent to Stelboum at Alice Street Editions, 21 East Broad Street, West Hazleton, PA, 18201.

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